The State - News from Feb. 4, 1987

Seventy-three people died of AIDS in San Francisco in January, nearly twice the number in the same period last year, the city Department of Public Health reported. Also, 93 new cases of acquired immune deficiency syndrome were reported for the month. Eighty-three of the new victims are homosexual or bisexual men who do not use intravenous drugs; seven are homosexual or bisexual men who inject drugs; one is a heterosexual man who uses drugs intravenously; two, a man and a woman, apparently contracted the disease through blood transfusions before donors were screened for AIDS. “The numbers will fluctuate but the general trend will continue upward,” said Dr. George Lemp, health department epidemiologist. In San Francisco, the total number of AIDS cases reported is 2,853, and 1,707 people have died from the fatal disease, which weakens the body’s resistance to certain cancers and viruses.